


It comes back to you

by ShariDeschain



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 15:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3452432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShariDeschain/pseuds/ShariDeschain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel and Peggy's relationship throughout the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It comes back to you

I.

He's there when everything begins, even if none of them know exactly when that is.

He knows he was there because he's always been there for Peggy.

 

II.

He's there when things thicken in Budapest.

It isn't Jack's fault, not really, but he knew he wasn't supposed to get involved first person in that particular mission, so there's little to be surprised when Peggy promises that she'll save him just so she can kill him by herself.

“No, that's not right. I'll save him, _I'll bloody fire him_ , and then, _only then_ , I'll kill him”, she says, pacing the room back and forth.

By then she's already Chief Carter, so she really has the power to fire them all.

“He'll be okay”, he tries to comfort her, earning himself a murderous glare for his trouble.

“He will not be okay, Daniel”, she punctuates, her voice slightly trembling with anger and something else that could very well be fear. “Didn't you hear? I'm going to kill him.”

He stands in front of her, his hand on her elbow, watching her run her fingers through her hair, then cover her eyes to shield a nervous look. 

_It's really that bad, then_ , he thinks.

“Yeah, I mean before that”, he answers. “We'll bring him to you alive and in one piece, so the pleasure will be all yours. As long as I get to watch.”

She scoffs and he smiles at her. They look at each other for a long moment, feeling the same knot in their stomachs, wishing the same wish.

“Thank you, Agent Sousa”, she says eventually, straightening herself up. “Now let's see what circus act we must invent in order to get him out of there.”

He's there when Jack walks into the office — bleeding, bruised, partially painted in yellow and with his clothes half burned, but mostly okay — and Peggy runs into his arm and kisses him in front of everyone, just a moment before punching him right in the face.

 

III.

He's there when they announce their engagement.

He's the first to stand up and clap his hands. He congratulates with both of them, then shakes hands with Jack, pats his back, teases him along with all the other agents. He's probably the only one who tells him he's a lucky man without sarcasm of any sort.

Jack accepts all the compliments with a gracious smile, then he offers to buy drinks for everyone, and Peggy smiles and shakes her head, but eventually agrees to dismiss all of them for the occasion.

A few minutes later he and Peggy are the last ones standing in the office, and Daniel takes the opportunity to shake her hand too.

“I'm happy for you, Chief”, he says, well aware of the golden ring brushing against the palm of his hand.

“Thank you, Daniel”, she smiles.

“I hope you'll be... happy with him.”

He doesn't know if it's his tone or his face that betrays him, but Peggy's smiles becomes softer, almost compassionate, and he knows what she's going to say even before she opens her mouth to speak, and he feels so embarrassed for himself, mainly because he's sure his face's on fire.

“Don't”, he quickly cuts her off. “Please, don't. There's no need.”

She bits her lips, but she nods and says nothing about it. There's never been anything to say about it, after all.

“Let's go catch them before they get too drunk to came back to work for the next week, okay?”, she offers.

He agrees because if there's one thing he needs right now, it's to get himself too drunk to came back to work for the next few years.

 

IV.

He's there when the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s born.

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division?”, he repeats. “A bit mouthful, isn't it?”

“You think?”, she asks, sitting on the desk of the new office. “Howard loves it. Of course, he's the one who came up with it, so it could be his narcissism talking. Or his love for pretentious things, for the matter. I like it too, though.”

“It's good. A good tribute”, Daniel answers. “He would've liked it.”

They both look at the actual shield hanging from the wall, and Peggy smiles while she absently strokes her belly. She's almost five months pregnant now.

“Yes”, she agrees in a whisper. “I'm sure he would've.”

 

V.

He's there when Jack dies.

“A mission gone wrong”, Peggy says flat voice, and he doesn't really have the heart to ask for details.

He stands behind her while she receives the american flag, and he wonders if she's tired of those colors, tired of getting them in exchange for the men she loved.

After the funeral he hugs her for the first time in his life.

 

VI.

He's not there when Stark dies because by that time he's earned his own office in Europe.

Peggy calls him on his private line to tell him the news before it becomes public, and he's a little surprised at first, but then again, she's still one of the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders.

“A car accident, uh?”, he says eventually. “Doesn't really sound good enough for him, to be honest.”

“There's no evidence to believe it to be something different. I checked. But Howard always was... less than careful, so to say. You know that.”

“Yeah, I definitely do.”

There's a sigh at the other end of the line, then a long silence.

“He was the only one who really knew how it is like”, she continues after a while, and she sounds like she's talking to herself rather than to him.

“How it is like what?”, he asks anyway.

“Living without Steve.”

Her voice breaks and she starts to cry. Astonished, Daniel tries to find words good enough to comfort her, but he can't think of anything to say and that makes him sad, because once upon a time he was really good at comforting her. Then again, he's not sure he still has the right to that kind of intimacy anymore.

So he just stands by the phone, listening to her sobs, wondering if she's mourning Howard Stark or Steve Rogers or just the memory of better days, pitying Jack because he can't imagine how was it like to love a woman that always loved a ghost more than anyone else.

He hangs up with a heavier heart, but when he returns home he kisses his wife with so much more gratitude.

 

VII.

She's there when he dies.

She's on her wheelchair, she's cold and tired and even her daughter's hand on her shoulder feels heavy like a stone.

“He was my last friend”, she says, her voice soft and broken.

“It's okay, mum”, Mary says, gently petting her white hair.

“I loved him.”

“I'm sure he knew it.”

Peggy doesn't answer.

 

VIII.

He's not there when everything ends — when Captain America becomes a traitor and the S.H.I.E.L.D. crumbles to ashes in front of the entire world, when they learn that their dedication, their sacrifices, even their lives, were all for nothing.

She doesn't know he wasn't there, though, and not just because of her illness, but because he's always been there for her, and it's simply too strange for Peggy to remember otherwise.

**Author's Note:**

> \- I made myself sad writing this. I'm sorry.  
> \- Written for the third mission of the COW-T #5 @maridichallenge.


End file.
